Thursday, November 6, 2008

"O, Wonderful!" —Hamlet, I.v.121

Bardbox. Ed. Luke McKernan. 2 November 2008. 5 November 2008.What Hamlet says without much elaboration about his encounter with the ghost I say with deep conviction about Bardbox, a stunning blog that has compiled an enormous, well-catalogued, well-annotated, and well-organized collection of (in its own words) "the best and most interesting examples of original Shakespeare videos online."

Truly, it is a marvel. I feel quite jealous. But I rejoice at the resource and at all that it provides. Dr. McKernan must have watched many lame parodies and middle school soliloquies—the "infinite deal of nothing" Bassiano says Gratiano gives us in Merchant of Venice, I.i.114—to show us the very best original Shakespeare-related material on YouTube.

For example, without Dr. McKernan's fine work, I would not have known that a version of Mercutio's "Queen Mab" speech that has been dubbed over with the "Watney's Red Barrell" sketch from Monty Python: Live at the Hollywood Bowl exists. And here it is! [Note: The sketch contains at least one obscenity (in addition to all the Bloodys) and one ethnic slur.]

3 comments:

Thank you - I'm glad you approve, and there are two of your own fine productions included in the 'canon' collected so far. I wouldn't say it was huge as yet - just sixty titles, though I'll be adding several more over the coming weekend, and one or two a week thereafter (I've got many listed ready for inclusion). I have waded through a fair bit of garbage, it must be said, but I'm also getting an eye (I think) for spotting a work that's out of the ordinary.

I suppose we could debate how many titles a collection needs to be "huge"—perhaps it's more huge in its impact and in its potential than in sheer numbers. But we can't really debate the spelling of your name. Sorry, Dr. McKernan; the necessary changes have been made!

Well, my other project in the field (now managed by others since I moved jobs) is the International Database of Shakespeare of Film, Television and Radio, http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare, which when published in its complete form (soon, soon) will have over 6,000 records. Which seems huger to me. But it's all a question of definition, as you say.

Bardfilmis normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilmis a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:

KJ is a professor of English and Literature at a small Christian liberal arts college. In addition to courses entitled “Shakespeare” and “Introduction to Shakespeare,” he teaches a course called “Shakespeare and Film.” Recently, he developed a course titled “Modern Shakespearean Fiction.” Shakespeare is also integrated into nearly all his other courses, including courses on the Literature of Food and the Literature of Humor. Additionally, he is the author of Bardfilm: The Shakespeare and Film Microblog. But you may have known that already.